I am working as vocal director for TIP Youth. The program is in it's 10th Season and we are working on Madagascar Jr. for our group of 8-12 year olds, and Legally Blonde Jr. for our 12 - 18 year olds. As well as putting on a performance at the end of the program we aim to teach the children a variety skills that are required for theatre and that are also useful in in other aspects of their life.
During the music rehearsals I teach basic musicianship skills, such as finding your place in a score, understanding the structure of the score, basic rhythm, and pitch matching skills. I also teach about vocal health and aim to teach the group how to safely warm-up before they start to sing.
I have found that the youth groups I work with are less resistant when it comes to making strange noises during vocal warm-ups. They are happy to do lip trills and tongue trills, to hum, to siren, and to make hooting noises. They will do the physical warm-ups and be able to stretch out their bodies and move around the space. It's refreshing to work with them. Often when I work with adults I find I have to justify the exercises I do as they are different than the ones they have done with other vocal coaches or music directors. But many of the things that people call vocal warm-ups are actually technical exercises and not where I want to start a rehearsal.
The performances will take place from Thursday 9th April until Sunday 12th April, at Theatre Daikanyama.
